Fall Break 2015

We were very disappointed to not be able to go to Utah for Fall Break, as that had been our plan all year long, but we vowed to make the best of Fall Break here. It was absolutely non-stop. It was very much unlike us to provide constant entertainment and activities for our children, but we wanted to have some fun, and boy did we have some fun!

We started off with a road trip to Prescott to go on a hike my friend Tausha recommended. Finding and following a trail of white dots was the focus of the hike, so I knew my girls would love it. Turns out we all loved it. Aside from thorns getting in our shoes and untied laces about every 5 minutes, it was a blast. We even had to squeeze through a little crevice in the mountain, which required Dan to do some pretty crazy maneuvering with Emily on his back, but we all survived and made great memories.

After we worked up a fantastic appetite, peed by a river (child will remain un-named), and finished all of our water and snacks, we drove back into downtown Prescott. Much fun was had there: Eating, walking around the beautiful area, playing on the courthouse steps, exploring the small, way over-priced shops, and chatting with people we came across. That evening we drove back home, and were super happy and satisfied with our little day-trip choice.

 

Tolmachaff farms. It was hot and fun, and we ended the day with ice cream and the original Parent Trap movie which my daughters were absolutely enthralled with, as were we! Such a great movie, with great acting. They don't make movies like that anymore.

 

We invited one of Molly’s best buddies over. They played the first half of the day. Then we went to the State Capitol museum. After the museum, we took them to the Senate gallery which overlooks the Senator floor for viewing purposes. Then it was off to Café Rio which we love. Before we knew it, it was time for baseball practice, after which the girls were overjoyed to hear we were letting them stay and play at the park since it was not a school night. We became even cooler parents when we let them play at the splash pad despite the lack of swim suits.

 

Dan’s work is always fun. He really wanted to try to get ahead on paperwork, so I agreed to a few hours at his work, even though he was on break. The girls love to play there anyway, so it was a win-win. I started to get cranky after an hour, because I had nothing to do, besides stop Emily from eating everything she found on the floor, which is no different than any other day of my life. Instead of staying for the three hours I agreed to, he begrudgingly agreed to leave and hit a couple stores and grab dinner before the baseball game we had to be at. We were only 15 minutes late for the pre-game practice.

Dan’s birthday. Let’s just say this day was cursed from beginning to end. Everything that could go wrong, went very wrong. In the end, I think we made some pretty decent memories with the things that went right. We can also look back at everything that went wrong, and laugh at the absurdity of it all.

We started off his birthday with crowning him King for the day with a left-over Burger King crown. I let him pick a movie that I would never watch with him on another day, and I made him French Toast that wasn't all the way cooked, but burnt on the edges. The movie was edited, but still not edited enough for our liking, but that just went along with the things that had already gone wrong that morning...like me sleeping in and forgetting it was his birthday while he woke up early with Emily...

Emily trying to see the turtles swimming at the zoo.

 

Towards the end of break, we discovered Emily had 3 teeth that had popped through. That explained a lot from the past week. If there’s anything I’ve learned as a parent so far, it’s knowing hindsight sure has the ability to make you feel really stupid, and we sure have a lot of hindsight in our parental portfolio! By the end of break, we were pooped and I started to get sick, but I was grateful it happened at the end of break instead of during, which would have really put a damper on things.

Do something kind for someone today.